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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. hand — in cards
  3. prune — to trim
  4. file — a line of people
  5. prune — to trim
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. saw — the tool
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — an illness
  16. file — a document
  17. wound — an injury
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. pass — a permit
  20. saw — the tool
  21. stem — to come from
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cold — not warm

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com